Vale councillor allegedly made ‘gun gesture at political opponent’

Hayley O'Keeffe

A council cabinet member has promised to ‘curb her actions’ after a ‘gun gesture’ she allegedly made at an opposition politician sparked a complaint.

A council cabinet member has promised to ‘curb her actions’ after a ‘gun gesture’ she allegedly made at an opposition politician sparked a complaint.

Robin Stuchbury

Janet Blake, who is the cabinet member for business transformation at Aylesbury Vale District Council made the gesture with her hand, during a debate about disability access in Lace Hill, Buckingham.

The gesture, in July this year, was allegedly directed at Labour councillor for Buckingham Robin Stuchbury.

Lib Dem councillor Anders Christenson complained about the incident after the meeting and an investigation was launched.

A report by investigating officer Ifty Ali stated that Tory Mrs Blake, who is wife of council leader Neil, had described the incident as ‘playful banter’ and that the gesture had actually been directed towards a member of her own party.

He said that no further action was deemed neccessary.

His report read: “It is not uncommon for council meetings to be a lively forum involving forthright political debate and there is no evidence that there was any malice in the gesture made by councillor Mrs Blake, although the council chamber is perhaps an inappropriate forum for such a gesture, even if made light heartedly as this could easily be misinterpreted.

“I have noted that councillor Mrs Blake has noted that she will ‘curb her actions in the future’.”

Mrs Blake said: “This gesture was intended to silence an interruption from one of my party colleagues. It was not directed at any other politician or connected in any way to the subject matter. It’s regrettable that it got misinterpreted and I’ll be a bit more careful in future!”